banker42

Everyone that receives Section 8 assistance is not trash; it's wrong to generalize. What I can't figure out is why no one bothered to conduct an actual study on whether or not these homes would be saleable and at what price point. I'm very familiar w/ Euclid and it has gone down considerably over the last 25 years. Someone here mentioned the lifecycle of cities and I think they hit it on the head; especially for an inner ring suburb. Although no one is asking me, I think that townhouses may have worked or more affordable single family homes. I'm sorry, if I have $600-750K to spend on a home, it's not going to be there in Euclid, even if it's on the lakefront. To the builder, shame on you. Certainly you had to know that lakefront homes require a different type of construction than those inland. My goodness!

Everyone that receives Section 8 assistance is not trash; it's wrong to generalize. What I can't figure out is why no one bothered to conduct an actual study on whether or not these homes would be saleable and at what price point. I'm very familiar w/ Euclid and it has gone down considerably over the last 25 years. Someone here mentioned the lifecycle of cities and I think they hit it on the head; especially for an inner ring suburb. Although no one is asking me, I think that townhouses may have worked or more affordable single family homes. I'm sorry, if I have $600-750K to spend on a home, it's not going to be there in Euclid, even if it's on the lakefront. To the builder, shame on you. Certainly you had to know that lakefront homes require a different type of construction than those inland. My goodness!

The idea that the bank "held" the first two weeks of an hourly workers paycheck is inaccurate. Let's say for the sake of argument that an hourly worker starts on the first day of a pay period at $10 an hour. Since he is paid based on the number of hours he works, at the end of that pay period, he pay is computed and paid at the next pay period. Following, upon termination or move into a salaried position, they would receive their final paycheck two weeks after termination or promotion.

TDM--That's awesome news that depositors that had more money than what was covered won't be losing that money. It certainly wasn't the case in the IL bank that my bank took over. They also changed (lowered) interest rates on deposit accounts. I guess I assumed that because they can, they would. Good for NYCB and even better for the Amtrust customers. (Although w/ everything that has been going on there, I can't imagine why someone would have more than the FDIC coverage allowed.) PS--I think you do a great job w/ reporting.

NYCB most certainly can change the interest rate on a CD, and most certainly will if they are substantially above market rates at the time of issuance. Remember, Amtrust failed. Same vein, if someone had more money at Amtrust than was covered by the FDIC insurance, they have lost that, too. (Previous statements made based on experience of acquiring a financial institution that had "failed."

nickbyfleet, Amtrust is regulated by the OTS, not the OCC. Also, there were restrictions set by the OTS, but it didn't require them to have interest rates BELOW their competition; it just restricted them from offering rates that were significantly above their competitors.

No, that's not me; but he's hilarious. I worked w/ Esther Ponsky; she was nice and a good employee. While being related to the Goldberg's shouldn't be your only qualification, being related to them shouldn't disqualify you either. At the time of my post I didn't realize that Esther passed away a couple years ago. Perhaps Opinion40 was referring to someone else? At any rate, having known Esther personally and worked w/ her too, I guess I just wanted to stick up for her. As Yeacleve said, "RIP, Esther."

Quit hassling TDM! She's a reporter. She's doing her job, she's reporting the news. If AmTrust fails it will have nothing to do w/ her. AmTrust is providing her w/ some of the employment numbers (those she can't verify elsewhere)--so if they are inaccurate, why not take it up w/ the company spokesperson?

I don't care much for Peter, either, but you guys act like his goal was to run the bank into the ground. I assure you it was not. Don't forget that the 2nd generation are still very much involved in the day-to-day running of the bank as well as sitting on the board.

We are where we are at today as a result of the "perfect storm," regarding the economy, credit crisis and housing crisis. AmTrust didn't walk out on the limb alone. Many banks were doing subprime lending. And don't forget the guys on Wall Street, who were buying and selling these loans. It may be fun to wag your finger at Peter, but this is not "all his fault," of that of his cousins either.

I hope the bank pulls though... a little smaller and more focused on being the community bank they have been for more than 100 years.

Give two week notices if you want, or don't if you prefer. It doesn't affect your job history. By law, all an employer can confirm is date hired/severed and job title. I don't even think they can get pay info. And to the loyalists out there... How often does the bank give you a two week notice when releasing you? Turn about is fair play--Just a thought.